Treasury works to protect taxpayers from tax-related identity theft

In an effort to protect Michigan taxpayers, the Michigan Department of Treasury continues to implement security measures to stop tax-related identity theft.

If an individual income tax return has been selected for identity confirmation, the taxpayer will receive a letter from Treasury asking them to confirm their identity by completing a short online quiz. After confirmation of passing the quiz, tax refunds will be issued between 14 and 21 days. Some taxpayers may be asked to submit paperwork to confirm their identity.

Michigan taxpayers who suspect they may have been a target of tax-related identity theft should call the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at 1-800-829-0433.

For the 2015 tax year, over 33,000 returns were stopped that prevented more than $70 million in potentially fraudulent refunds being issued by the state of Michigan. Last year, Treasury processed more than 5 million individual income tax returns, with 3.7 million receiving more than $1.8 billion in refunds.